THE extension of the limits of Boston, and
the movement of business and population to the southward, have
materially changed the meaning attached to the term North End. In the
earliest days of the town, the Mill Creek separated a part of the town
from the mainland, and all to the north of it was properly called the
North End. For our present purpose we include in that division of the
city all the territory north of State, Court, and Cambridge Streets.
This district is, perhaps, the richest in historical associations of
any part of Boston. It was once the most important part of the town,
containing not only the largest warehouses and the public buildings,
but the most aristocratic quarter for dwelling-houses. But this was a
long time ago. A large part of the North End proper has been abandoned
by all residents except the poorest classes. Among its important
streets may be mentioned Commercial, with its solidly built warehouses,
and its great establishments for the sale of grain, ship-chandlery,
fish, and other articles; Cornhill, once the head-quarters of the
book-trade, a remnant of the business still lingering there; the
streets radiating from Dock Square crowded with stores for the sale of
cutlery and hardware, meats, wines, groceries, fruit, tin, copper, and
iron ware, and other articles of household use; and Hanover, widened in
1869, and now as formerly a great market for cheap goods of all
descriptions. Elsewhere in this district are factories for the
production of a variety of articles, from a match to a tombstone, from
a set of furniture to a church bell.

There are but a few relics remaining of the
North End of the olden time. The streets have been straightened and
widened, and many of them go under different names from those first
given them, while most of the ancient buildings have fallen to decay
and been removed. Among such as are still left, the most conspicuous
and the most famous is old Faneuil Hall, the “Cradle of
Liberty.” This building was a gift to the town by Mr. Peter
Faneuil. For more than twenty years before its erection the need of a
public market had been felt, but the town would never vote to build
one. In 1744) Mr. Faneuil offered to build a market at his own expense,
and give it to the town, if a vote should be passed to accept it, and
keep it open under suitable regulations. This offer was accepted by the
town, after a hot discussion, by a narrow majority of seven. The
building was erected in 1742; and only five years later the opposition
to the market-house system was so powerful that a vote was carried to
close the market. From that time until 1761 the question whether the
market should be open or not was a fruitful source of discord in local
politics, each party to the contest scoring several victories. In the
last-named year Faneuil Hall was destroyed by fire. This seems to have
turned the current of popular opinion in favor of the market, for the
town immediately voted to rebuild it. In 1805 it was enlarged to its
present size. From the time the Hall was first built until the adoption
of the city charter in 1822, all town meetings were held within its
walls. In the stirring events that preceded the Revolution it was put
to frequent use. The spirited speeches and resolutions uttered and
adopted within it were a most potent agency in exciting the patriotism
of all the North American colonists. In every succeeding great crisis
in our country’s history, thousands of citizens have assembled
beneath this roof to listen to the patriotic eloquence of their leaders
and counsellors. The great Hail is peculiarly fitted for popular
assemblies. It is seventy-six feet square and twenty-eight feet high,
and possesses admi-. ruble acoustic properties. The floor is left
entirely destitute of seats, by which means the capacity of the hail,
if not the comfort of audiences, is greatly in-creased. Numerous large
and valuable portraits adorn the walls: a copy of the full-length
painting of Washington, by Stuart; another of the donor of the
building, Peter Faneuil, by Colonel Henry Sargent; Healy’s great
picture of Webster replying to Hayne; excellent portraits of Samuel
Adams and the second President Adams; of General Warren and Commodore
Preble; of Edward Everett, Abraham Lincoln, and John A. Andrew; and of
several others prominent in the history of Massachusetts and the Union.
The Hall is never let for money, but it is at the disposal of the
people whenever a sufficient number of persons, complying with certain
regulations, ask to have it opened. The city charter of Boston, which
makes but very few restrictions upon the right of the city government
to govern the city in all local affairs, contains a wise provision
forbidding the sale or lease of this Hall.

Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market.

The new Faneuil Hall Market, popularly
known as Quincy Market, originated in a recommendation by Mayor Quincy
in 1823. The corner-stone was laid in April, 1825, and the structure
was completed in 1827. The building is five hundred and thirty-five
feet long and fifty feet wide, and is two stories in height. This great
market-house was built at a cost of $150,000, upon made land; and so
economically were its affairs managed that the improvement, including
the opening of six new streets and the enlargement of a seventh, was
accomplished without the levying of any tax, and without any increase
of the city’s debt.

The oldest church building in the city and one
of the oldest of the historic burial-grounds are in the older part of
the North End district. These are Christ Church, Episcopal, on Salem
Street, and the old North Burying-Ground, near by, in what remains of
Copp’s Hill. Christ Church was established in 1723, and the
present is the first and only building ever occupied by the society.
During the Revolution, the rector, the Rev. Mather Byles, Jr., left the
town on account of his sympathy with the royal cause. The steeple of
this church is a prominent landmark. It is, however, but a copy of the
original steeple, from which the warning lights were hung on the night
of April 18, 1775, which was blown down in the great gale of October,
1804. The tower contains a fine chime of eight bells, upon which have
been rung joyful and mournful peals for more than a century and a
quarter. The interior of the church is quaint and most interesting.
Upon the walls are some historic paintings and mural ornaments; and the
church possesses plate, pulpit bible and service books presented by
George II., and other valuables. It has a bust of Washington, the first
ever made. It has also a rare old christening-bowl. One portion of the
gallery was once set apart for slaves.

Christ Church, Salem Street

The old North Burying-Ground was the second
established in the town. It has for many years been closed against
interments, but has been faithfully cared for as a cherished old
landmark. Its original limits, when first used for interments in 1660,
were much smaller than now. Like most of the remaining relics of the
early times, this burial-ground bears traces of the Revolutionary
contest. The British soldiers occupied it as a military station, and
used to amuse themselves by firing bullets at the gravestones. The
marks made in this sacrilegious sport may still be discovered by
careful examination of the stones. One of these most defaced is that
above the grave of Captain Daniel Malcolm, which bears an inscription
speaking of him as:

“A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY A FRIEND TO THE PUBLICK AN ENEMY TO OPPRESSION AN
ONE OF THE FOREMOST IN OPPOSING THE REVENUE ACTS ON AMERICA.”

Copp’s Hill Burying-Ground.

This refers to a bold act of Captain
Malcolm, in landing a valuable cargo of wines, in 1768, without paying
the duty upon it. The performance was in the night under the guard of
bands of men armed with clubs. It would be called smuggling at the
present day, but when committed it was deemed a laudable and patriotic
act, because the tax was regarded as unjust, oppressive, and illegal.
The most noted persons whose bodies repose within this enclosure were
undoubtedly the three Reverend Doctors Mather, — Increase,
Cotton, and Samuel; but there are many curious and interesting
inscriptions to read, which would well repay a visit. The
burying-ground is even now a favorite place of resort in the warmer
months, and the gates stand hospitably open to visitors. Strangers will
find the superintendent courteous and willing to give information
regarding the older gravestones and the most noteworthy graves. It is
to the credit of the city, that, when it became necessary in the
improvement of this section of the city to cut down Copp’s Hill
to some extent, the burying-ground was left untouched, and the
embankment protected by a high stone-wall.

Quite at the other extreme of the North End
district is the Massachusetts General Hospital, a structure of imposing
appearance devoted to most beneficent uses. This institution had its
origin in a bequest of $ 5,000 made in 1799, but it was not until 1811
that the Hospital was incorporated. The State endowed it with a
fee-simple in the old Province House, which was subsequently leased for
a term of ninety-nine years; and the Massachusetts Hospital Life
Insurance Company was required by its charter to pay one third of its
net profits to the Hospital. Large sums of money were raised by private
subscription both before the institution had begun operations and every
year since. The handsome granite building west of Blossom Street was
completed in 1821. In 1846 it was enlarged by the addition of two
extensive wings, and in 1875 four new pavilion wards were completed.
The stone of the original structure was hammered and fitted by the
convicts at the State Prison. The system on which this noble
institution is managed is admirable, in that it is so designed as to
combine the principles of gratuitous treatment and the payment of their
expenses by those who are able to do so. The Hospital turns away none
who come within the scope of its operations, while it has room to
receive them, however poor they may be. It has been greatly aided in
this work by generous contributions and bequests. The fund permanently
invested to furnish free beds amounts to over $ 600,000; and the annual
contributions for free beds support about 100 at $100 each. To all who
are able to pay for their board and for medical treatment the charges
are in all cases moderate, never exceeding the actual expense. The
general fund of the Hospital is about $1,100,000, and the total of
restricted funds attains the same amount. The annual income is a
quarter of a million dollars, which is usually slightly in excess of
the expenses. These figures are for the Hospital proper and for the
McLean Asylum for the Insane at Somerville, which is a branch of the
institution. A Training School for Nurses in connection with the
Hospital and a Convalescent’s Home in Belmont complete the
equipment. From 3,000 to 3,500 patients are treated yearly, of whom
more than three-fourths pay nothing. Besides these who are admitted to
the Hospital, there are annually from 16,000 to 20,000 out-patients,
who receive advice and medicine, or surgical or dental treatment. It
will show more clearly how great good is done precisely where it is
most needed, if we say that three-fourths of the male patients are
classed as mechanics, laborers, teamsters, seamen, and servants; and
more than half the female patients are seamstresses, operatives, and
domestics.